Living in a walkable city means my weekly shop is a few hours of walking or biking instead of being stuck in traffic, and I’m only mildly tired afterwards since I use a bike with pretty large pannier bags. Since I have no car related costs I can afford more fresh food, a healthier diet, and I can afford to be more choosy about the ethics of what I buy. There’s a twice weekly farmers market about a ten minute walk away, and quiet walks through parks to get to the shops. Living somewhere with car centric infrastructure, as I used to, this lifestyle was far less feasible.

Have your experiences been different with moving to walkable/bikeable cities? Any questions or points to be made? I’m not very up on the theory side of city planning, but my experiences line up with the whole “fuck cars” thing.

  • @[email protected]English
    8•6 months ago

    I live in NYC. It’s pretty great.

    I can walk a couple minutes to some bodegas. A couple more minutes to some small groceries. Looking at the map, there’s a couple supermarkets I forgot existed within 15 minutes of walking, in addition to the two I usually go to. There’s also other useful stuff like pharmacies, hardware stores, libraries, and so on. This isn’t a fancy or especially expensive neighborhood.

    I have a hand cart for when I want to buy something heavy.

    I haven’t had a car for like 15 years. I have no regrets. None of the “But what if it rains??” fears have ever been a problem. I can only remember twice in 15 years I needed to borrow someone’s car to move stuff.

    • @AA5BEnglish
      2•6 months ago

      I feel like NYC is playing this game in easy mode. There are definitely many other places in the US where being carless is possible, but nowhere else with as many options

      • @[email protected]English
        3•6 months ago

        This is part of why I plan to never move out of the city. Almost anywhere else in the US is going to be car centric. So I could move somewhere that’s “cheaper” but it wouldn’t be as good in ways I care about.

        • @AA5BEnglish
          1•6 months ago

          I do somewhat miss this, but a while back I moved to where I can own my own house with a bit of yard.

          Carless can mostly work for Boston as well. In my case it was road trips and friends in the suburbs that made it difficult, but transit and walking was mostly easier than car. No Bodegas, though. Of course that was before Uber/Zipcar so it may be easier now.

          Currently I live in a somewhat walkable town just outside Boston. We have a walkable town center focussed on a transit hub, and plenty of shops and restaurants. You could make carless work, if you lived a bit closer in than I am. We even used to have a grocery express near the train, that os similar to a bodega, but unfortunately died during COViD